The row was triggered by the termination on Wednesday of
twin foetuses carried by a nine-year-old allegedly raped by her
stepfather in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.

The regional archbishop, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, pronounced
excommunication for the mother for authorising the operation and
doctors who carried it out for fear that the slim girl would not
survive carrying the foetuses to term.

“God’s law is above any human law. So when a human law … is contrary
to God’s law, this human law has no value,” Cardoso had said.

He also said the accused stepfather would not be expelled from the
church. Although the man allegedly committed “a heinous crime … the
abortion - the elimination of an innocent life - was more serious”.

Battista Re agreed, saying: “Excommunication for those who carried
out the abortion is just” as a pregnancy termination always meant
ending an innocent life.

The case has sparked fierce debate in Brazil, where abortion is
illegal except in cases of rape or if the woman’s health is in danger.

On Friday, President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva hit out at
Sobrinho’s decision, saying: “As a Christian and a Catholic, I deeply
regret that a bishop of the Catholic church has such a conservative
attitude.”

“The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl of
nine years old,” he said, adding that “in this case, the medical
profession was more right than the church.”

The Catholic Church, the Vatican, a Bishop, all have said that the
crime of the mother and doctors is enough to keep them from the ‘body
of Christ’, the Holy Communion offered at Catholic Mass.

That’s one problem: the Catholic Church thinks that you can only receive Christ thru Communion in a Mass.

Not true, Christ’s attributes are available to all…

American Catholics, where will they stand on this repulsive, misogynist decision?